NIP AND TUCK PERFORMED IN ASSEMBLY AS DOCTOR UNDERGOES NAME CHANGE : SOMEBODY SIC, SICK OR CROOK ?

Plastic surgery was required behind the scenes in the golden staph ward of the Hansard office on a puzzling statement made by Health Minister Kon Vatskalis . The Member for Macdonnell , Alison Anderson, recovering from a broken foot after a clothesline fell on her, asked the minister to update the House about the status of Professor Margaret Davy , the Adelaide based gynaecological oncologist , who was given the flick by the Royal Darwin Hospital after 20 years of service to the NT. Ms Anderson asked the minister why he had told the House at the previous session that Professor Davy 's services had not been terminated when , in fact, she had a letter saying she was no longer required? His answer , in the uncorrected daily Hansard record, which made the situation as clear as Holy Ganges River mud , was thus .


Mr Vatskalis : Madam Speaker,I thank the member for MacDonnell for her very important question, because I met Professor Margaret Davy . I actually invited her to speak with me. I spoke to her because I have to admit I was furious [with] my department . When I gave advice to parliament at that time that a letter was provided to Margaret Davy, I found out that no such letter had been provided . I gave the advice , relying on the advice provided to me by departmental officers…
Members interjecting.
Madam Speaker : Order,order!
Mr Vatskalis: Madam Speaker, I spoke to the department to ensure that Margaret Davy was provided within…
Members interjecting .
Madam Speaker: Order,order!
Member : Blame the public service again .
Mr Vatskalis : I relied on the e-mails and a briefing I received and that is the reason I was furious . I demanded that everything was rectified immediately. Ms Davey(sic) will be coming until the end of the year. She is going to see ( inaudible) . She was also asked by me personally to put for a tender. I know now, I have been informed that she will put for a tender when the tenders are called early next year to provide gynaecological services to women in the Territory. Most importantly , I demanded that indigenous women are provided culturally appropriate services that I know very well Amanda (sic) Davey(sic) has provided in the past , because I strongly object, and I know very well that a lot of women , not only indigenous, but other women from different backgrounds will object to being examined intimately by a male doctor. [Does this mean the minister refuses to be examined intimately by a male medic for his annual health check up?]

I spoke to Amanda (sic) Davey : actually I met with her upstairs in my office , I was totally nonplussed by my department . I was disappointed by the response I received , and I told them that next time this will happen I will be prepared to accept letters of resignation.


Because the minister is hard to understand due to his accent and rapid delivery , members were not sure what his answer really meant. One MLA said Kon had " sacked "someone in his department, thinking he had said a letter of resignation was in the post. Another MLA said it was unclear exactly what the minister had told the House, which was par for the course.


Because Little Darwin’s gonzo scribbler was still suffering from piles, he had not been in the House to hear the Minister orate. So we turned to the online daily transcript ; two rapid sweeps of the notes failed to find the exchange . Had it been surgically removed for a major rewrite ? If so, what will the official record say. Feel sure we will keep our readers and Amanda/ Margaret , to use a reproductive medical term, in the loop. A bit more looking about and we found the above transcript in the Question section dealing with Professor Margaret Davey[sic] -"Termination of Services "

How the fact that a minister says he is" furious" with his department and that the" next time" there is a cock up he will expect resignations went unnoticed by the media is strange . But then, the media may not have understood what the minister was saying ,required an interpreter, or they were having a sickie.